Single channel video, stereo, duration 51:22
Rune Peitersen 2026
The video features an original score by Marijn Ottenhof.
I grew up in the gray social democratic 1970s, a Generation X child of boomer parents. I came of age during the conservative economic experiments of the 80s. I remember the nuclear anxiety as well as the elation when the Berlin Wall fell. In the neoliberal 90s, I was in my 20s with almost unlimited possibilities of education, travel or plain slacking.
The End of History made everything seem possible. Globalization promised the end of wars and shared prosperity for all. The internet promised to connect everyone and turn the world into a friendly town square with all of humanity’s knowledge readily available for all. Free market capitalism promised to make life better for all, while also solving the world’s problems.
Today, not a day goes by without some reminder of the disastrous consequences and outcomes of the neoliberal mindset that underpinned those promises. Climate change, wars, polarization, inequality, and a general feeling of end of times seem to be the new normal.
Looking back at the optimism of the 90s makes me wonder how gradual change takes place and what happened to the promises of my youth.
